Imogen Cooper is one of the most musical pianists before
the public today. Her appearances at the Wigmore Hall,
in Schubert especially, have been memorable occasions.
To hear her in the first two Beethoven Concertos was a
fascinating experience, too. I am not sure that it would
be correct to describe Cooper as ‘piano/director’ though.
Despite a lot of swaying in the direction of the orchestra,
the actual nitty-gritty of ensemble seemed to be handled
by the Britten Sinfonia’s leader, Jacqueline Shave. And
very well Shave did, too (the orchestra’s post-cadenza
re-entrances were always going to be tricky and were,
as it turned out, impressively managed). The piano was
placed sideways to the orchestra, not facing it as many
pianists who indulge in conductorless concertos prefer.

Cooper’s phrasing in the ‘First’ concerto (the second to be written) was
frequently a thing of beauty. Her sfs bit, but were never harsh and there
was a chamber feel in the woodwind exchanges. She opted for the long third
cadenza (the close of which strangely lacked direction – listen to
Pollini/Jochum for some uncharacteristic wit here!). Her slow movement was a
dream (rightly, she waited for silence before beginning) although the right-hand
did feel overly projected at times; a shame the violins did not have enough
tonal depth, too. A finale imbued with real spirit and a sense of fun was a joy.

The Britten Sinfonia has some real strengths. Clearly it thinks along
chamber-music lines and some of the instrumentalists are outstanding
(particularly the oboist Nicolas Daniel, who some may remember from BBC’s Young
Musician of the Year some years back).It was an intriguing idea to put the
Rondino for Wind (written around 1792) in between the two concertos. Not an
easy piece, this, particularly for the horns (the second horn, to be accurate,
who was rather stretched in this performance). There is an outdoor feel to his
music that the players projected well.

Finally, the bright-and-breezy Second Concerto. The enthusiasm of the orchestra
was for overdrive in the orchestral exposition. Full of vim, it seemed an
intriguing mix of Mozart and Beethoven as if intent on revealing Beethoven’s
roots. Interestingly, Cooper’s right-hand projection was now perfectly judged,
especially in the bold, imitative beginning to the cadenza. . But it was the
Adagio that was the highlight. Cooper’s tone was quite simply gorgeous, while
the orchestra was unexpectedly passionate in fortes. Holding the silence
before launching into the finale threw the last movement’s hustle and bustle
into real relief. There was no trace of awkwardness in Cooper’s articulation (no
easy feat), plus there was an underbelly of fire to the music’s surface play. A
wonderful reminder of just how special a pianist Imogen Cooper is.